


Tea for Three

by endemictoearth



Category: My Mad Fat Diary
Genre: Cute Kids, F/M, Tea Parties
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-15
Updated: 2015-07-15
Packaged: 2018-04-10 03:13:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4374992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/endemictoearth/pseuds/endemictoearth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt fill: “A’s little sibling forces A and B to have a tea party with them deeming A the princess and B the knight in shining armor” A=Rae, B=Finn, Shining Armor=Leather Jacket</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tea for Three

**Tea for Three**

_April 7, 2001_

_Dear Diary,_

_Back home in Stamford for Easter Break. Chloe has organized something with the gang. I’m still a bit nervous around a certain Mr. Nelson, to be honest. I know it’s been almost three years since we decided to be friends, but … ugh, I don’t know. Every time I come home, I expect to hear he’s got a girlfriend, or moved to Manchester, or … something. But he’s still here, working two jobs, sitting at the end of the table with Chop while we all chat about uni and classes and grades._

_I can’t decide if it’s better to see him now and again, to try and be friends, or if we should just … cut ties. Ouch. The thought of NEVER seeing him again is a little painful. Okay, a LOT painful. But it’s kind of painful to see him, too. Bollocks!_

There is a tiny knock at the door of the room, breaking her reverie.

Rae slams her diary shut and calls out, “Yeah?”

“Rae! It’s meeee! Can I come in?”

Rae laughs out loud as she stands up and walks over to open the door.

“‘Course you can, silly! It’s your room!”

Standing in the hall in purple dungarees, a top with a big butterfly on it, and a homemade princess cone hat covered in lilac crushed velvet, edged in gold rick-rack, with a sparkly veil stapled to the top is her baby sister, Jasmine.

“‘Sides, I wouldn’t want to upset Your Majesty. You might lock me in the tower!”

Jasmine giggles and shakes her head, the hat tipping back and forth. “No, I wouldn’t! If I’m a princess that means you’re a princess, too! Princesses don’t lock each other up!”

Rae thinks back to her Tudor History class and smirks. “You’d be surprised,” she mutters before declaring, “To what to I owe the pleasure of your visit, Princess Jasmine?”

Jazz grabs Rae’s hand and pleads, “Come play with me!”

Rae rolls her eyes ostentatiously and sighs. “Oh, alright. You’ve convinced me.”

Jazz drags her older sister downstairs to the lounge where she has set up a four year old’s version of high tea. There are plastic play fruit in a bowl, and food drawn with crayon on paper plates, and a few actual sweets. Linda has brewed up some real tea and let it cool down before pouring it into the second best teapot, the one with the chipped handle.

“Now, you sit down, this is my tea party and I’m in charge!” Jazz says firmly as she tugs on Rae’s hand.

“Okay!” Rae agrees, trying to keep the laughter out of her voice.

The doorbell rings and Rae pauses mid-sit.

“I’ll get it!” Jazz sings out and bounds to the front door before Rae can stop her.

Rae straightens up and follows after, to make sure everything’s okay, protesting “Jasmine, you can’t just—“

As she rounds the corner to the front hall she sees a familiar face smiling down at her sister. “I’m a friend of Rae’s, is she here?”

Jasmine nods emphatically, hat bobbing up and down, veil flying around. “Yes, hi! She’s in the lounge; we’re just about to have tea! Do you want to come, too?”

Rae was too dumbstruck by Finn’s appearance to realize that she should tell her sister that this is not appropriate. “Jasmine!” She smiles sheepishly at Finn for a split second, and then hisses at Jasmine. “This  _is_  my friend, but you don’t know him. You shouldn’t invite people in without making sure it’s okay with Mum or Dad or me!”

Jasmine looks over her shoulder at Rae, oozing innocence. “ _Is_  it okay, Rae?”

Rae drops her head, her hair falling forward to hide her face, which is fine, because she feels silly. “Yeah, it’s okay.”

Finn comes in, wipes his boots on the mat and then pauses awkwardly in the hall, not moving to come inside further. Jazz sprints into the lounge, leaving Rae and Finn alone while she continues her preparations for tea.

Rae tucks a piece of hair behind her ear. “Uh, hi. What’s up? I thought we were meetin’ at the pub later on?”

“So did I, until Chloe told me we were meetin’ here beforehand. I thought it were odd, but Izzy …” He trails off, shaking his head. “Sorry, I guess … I guess I was duped.” He thrusts a clenched fist into the pocket of his leather jacket and turns to leave.

Just as Rae starts to reach out to tell him it’s okay, Jasmine bursts back out into the hall. “Well? Are you two comin’? The tea’s gettin’ cold!” She puts her hands on her hips and huffs adorably with impatience.

Rae smiles warmly at Finn and nods. “We should go in there. This is one princess you don’t want to make angry.”

He laughs and starts to shrug off his jacket.

“No! Keep it on! That’s your armor, because you’re a brave knight who just killed a dragon!” Jasmine giggles and grabs Finn’s hand to drag him in behind her.

In the lounge, Jasmine is cross between a monarch and a dictator, instructing her subjects where to sit, which cups to use, even what to say. Rae is given a hat that looks almost identical to Jasmine’s, except it’s blue and not purple. As she adjusts the elastic strap under her chin, Rae catches Finn’s eye. His eyes are laughing, but there’s something else behind his amusement. She looks away.

Finn takes his cup and bows a thank you, even though he’s cross-legged on the floor. “Princess Jasmine, you’ve grown up so much since I last saw you!”

Jasmine tilts her head to one side, her hat slipping over one ear. “I don’t remember meeting you, brave knight.”

“That’s alright; you were very little.”

Rae swallows, thinking it must be nearly three years. He’d helped her babysit so many times, and Jasmine would always settle down for him.  _Always a ladies’ man_ , she thinks wistfully. Rae stretches a thin smile across her lips to mask her sudden melancholy.

Jasmine takes a sip from her cup and then turns to Finn. “Sir, you deserve a prize for being so brave!”

Finn flushes red and stammers, “B-brave? Wh-what—?” Rae feels the heat rising into her face, too, thinking about what he must be thinking: brave for coming to her door; brave for staying.

“You killed the dragon, remember?” Jasmine pours everyone a splash more lukewarm tea, then pops the tea cozy back on the pot with a flourish, so proud to be in charge of something, to be acting so grown up.

Finn chuckles, biting his lip. “Oh, right. That’s the rumor, anyway. ”

“So, for a prize, I think we should give you two kisses, one from each of us princesses!” She springs forward and smacks a kiss on Finn’s left cheek. He smiles at the little girl and murmurs a thanks, then seems to deliberately focus on his tea, consciously not looking at Rae.

“C’mon, Rae! He killed a dragon for us; give him a kiss!”

Finn shakes his head, “No, it’s fine. I didn’t really—“ His head is in mid-shake when Rae’s lips make contact. She was aiming for his right cheek, to balance Jasmine’s peck, to shut her up, but instead catches the corner of his mouth. She leaps back, an apology spills from her lips.

Finn stands up quickly, like he’s been burned. His teacup clatters against the saucer, and he looks between Jasmine’s confused face and Rae’s embarrassed one. “I—I’d better be … thanks for the tea, Princess. Rae, I’ll … see ya at the pub, maybe.”

He heads for the door and Rae leaps up to follow him. “Finn, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—“

Pausing with his hand on the doorknob, Finn glances over his shoulder to cut her off. “I’m well aware how much you didn’t mean it.”

A cold dread passes through Rae, like she’s swallowed a lump of ice. “That’s not what I—wait, Finn!”

She has to open the door he’s slammed behind him, and sprint after him. No matter what else he’s done or hasn’t in the past three years, he’s still way faster than her. He’s turning the corner at a fast clip when she finally catches his elbow. “Wait, please, Finn!”

He whips around, his eyes meet hers for a second. They’re rimmed with red, but no sign of tears. “What, Rae? I’m sorry Chloe can’t keep her nose out of it, but I didn’t mean to barge in on ya. I’m leavin’, okay? I’m leavin’ ya alone!”

“That’s not—I don’t—I don’t want ya to,” Rae whispers.

Finn scoffs and blinks up at the cloudy sky. “Well, ya could’ve fooled me.” He exhales an impressive amount of air, like he’d been storing it up for weeks. “I don’t even know what I’m doin’ anymore.”

“What d’ya mean?” Rae asks without thinking.

“Nothin’, nev’mind.” Finn turns to keep walking.

“Please, Finn, wait!” Rae jogs after him again. “What’s the matter?”

This time, as he looks at her, he takes her in, really looks at her. He’s contemplating what to say, Rae can feel it. He shakes his head slowly, like he can’t bring himself to say what he needs to say. Finally, he speaks. “Well, for a start …” He reaches over to touch her hair. “Your hat’s almost fallin’ off your head.”

Rae smiles instinctively, the cold dread evaporating bit by bit. She ducks her head to try and right it while Finn’s fingers pull the elastic around to the front of her ear.

“Thanks,” she whispers. Then, as Finn draws his hand away from her face, Rae reaches out to hold it, to gently tug on it and beckon him back to her house. “Please come back and have some more tea. Jazzie will be sad if you don’t say goodbye. She’ll think her tea wasn’t good enough.”

Finn chews the inside of his lip nervously. “Her tea was more than good enough.”

Rae is confused about whether they’re still talking about tea, but she doesn’t care, if he’ll come back with her.

“Alright, then, come and tell her yourself.” She heads back to the house, hand still holding Finn’s, and he’s following her, not letting go.

Back inside, Jasmine is coloring another plate of imaginary food.

“Look who came back, Jazzie!” She gestures to Finn and finally lets go of his hand. “Brave Sir Finn!”

Jasmine drops her plate and marker and runs to give him a hug around the waist. “Yay!” She lets go and peers up at him “Why’d you go away like that?”

Finn looks between her and Rae and back again. He takes a deep breath. “I, um, heard about another dragon in the area. I had to go slay it real quick before it burned down any houses or shops or whatever.”

“Oh, good!” Jasmine smiles up at him. “Time for more tea, then!”

He follows Jazz back to the coffee table and kneels next to her. Rae settles herself next to him, and murmurs, “You know what they say about tea, don’t you?”

Finn looks over to her, and twists his mouth into a small smile. “Yeah, I remember.”

Rae can’t help saying it out loud. “It makes everythin’ alright.”


End file.
